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Boosting Chronic Disease Management Through Pop Health Management

HIMSS Analytics talks about chronic disease management in an addendum to past research.

February 29, 2016 - Chronic disease management and preventative care are becoming major focuses for healthcare organizations looking to improve population health management, according to a HIMSS Analytics statement.

In an addendum to a 2015 report on population health management, HIMSS Analytics explained a few insights into chronic disease management as it factors into population health management. After surveying almost 200 healthcare executives and experts, HIMSS Analytics determined that chronic disease management is one of the highest priorities for maintaining population health.

A handful of chronic diseases emerged as the most heavily focused upon conditions for healthcare organizations. Three quarters of organizations are focusing on diabetes, for example, and 58 percent on congestive heart failure and 40 percent on COPD management.

Healthcare organizations are also notably promoting workplace wellness. A total of 70 percent of survey respondents stated that workplace wellness was a high priority in its population health management and preventative care initiatives.

Dig Deeper

This data provides industry professionals with insights that go beyond trends in population health management. According to HIMSS Analytics executives, this addendum helps professionals understand how their peers are using population health and the areas they are seeing the most benefits.

“HIMSS Analytics wanted to gain additional insight and provide more details into what organizations are actually doing around population health,” said Brendan FitzGerald, Director of Research at HIMSS Analytics. “Building upon our 2015 Population Health Study, we have narrowed our focus to specific categories within population health to highlight areas of focus, tangible benefits realized, contributing factors to achieving population health goals and the biggest hurdles to success.”

This addendum adds to population health management research published at the end of 2015.

In general, the HIMSS Analytics 2015 Population Health Study showed, most healthcare organizations do have some sort of population health management program in place, with 67 percent reporting as such. Nearly 80 percent of respondents said the focus of their population health management strategy was chronic disease management.

The report also showed that only 11 percent of providers have adopted a health IT tool to help improve their population health management, and only a little over a third of respondents plan on using a consultant or health IT partner when implementing population health management strategies in the future.